John Wyman Wiles flew as a passenger with D.W. Tommy Tomlinson. Wiles was flying in an unidentified Ford piloted by Tomlinson for Maddux Airlines. Curiously, Tomlinson clearly identified his airplane registration number as "95636." There was no Ford registered with that number. Indeed, no Golden Age aircraft of any kind was so registered. He probably meant NC9636, which was Maddux fleet #9. It was a model Ford 5-AT-B, S/N 5-AT-10.

Regardless, Wiles flew with three fellow passengers: J.A. McCabb, R.E. Young and Miss M. Bartlett. They arrived Tuesday, January 8, 1929 at 10:20AM. They were westbound from El Paso, TX to Los Angeles, CA. I do not know where they came from east of El Paso or if El Paso was as far east as they traveled. They remained on the ground at Tucson for 25 minutes before continuing west. A few months after it landed at Tucson, it crashed at San Diego, CA on April 21, 1929.

Wiles is pictured below at left with Maddux pilot Larry Fritz. The very nice photos of Wiles below were shared by Wiles' grandson L. Shepeard, courtesy of the Wiles family.

John Wyman Wiles (L) With Larry Fritz, Date Unknown (Source: Wiles Family)

Wiles was the Chief Engineer for Maddux Airlines, a position he assumed in July 1927. Below, he appears at left standing in front of a Ford trimotor. With him, as identified by the Wiles family, is Henry Ford, second from left. If this is Henry Ford, this was indeed a very rare photograph, because Ford very rarely wore his glasses in public and he was usually much more crisply dressed. The person in white looks like pilot Tomlinson, second from right, although the Wiles family identifies him as Fritz. The Wiles family identifies the man at right as Jack Maddux, although he looks more like Larry Fritz. Regardless, in his role as Chief Engineer, Wiles holds a cylindrical can of HyVis motor oil. If you can provide definitive identifications of the other people, please let me KNOW.

J.W. Wiles (L), Unidentified, J.W. Tomlinson (?), Unidentified, Date Unknown (Source: Wiles Family)

The Ford they stand in front of was Maddux fleet #4, which was NC5577. Please follow its link to learn about its exhilarating life. Others in the fleet were NC1102, fleet number one, NC1781 was number 2, NC4532 was # 3, NC7117 was #5, NC7118 was #6 and NC9636 was #9.

An interesting article from the Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society is at the link (PDF 843kB). Please note the cover image. It shows Wiles in the truck bed standing on the right. Also, on page 87 the "Mate" standing in front of the airplane is Wiles. And on page 89 Wiles is shown on a step ladder adding oil to the port engine out of the HYVIS can he is holding above. The person with his foot on the ladder in that photo looks a lot like Tomlinson. It's a safe guess that the photo above and the one on page 89 were taken within the same hour!

Oakland Tribune, December 28, 1928 (Source: newspapers.com)

Wiles was a principal in stocking the Maddux fleet with new airplanes. The Oakland Tribune, December 28, 1928, right, documented Wiles as part of the itinerary with Larry Fritz to deliver a new Ford from Detroit, MI to California.

An interesting puzzle emerges now. If NC1102 was fleet #1, we could deduce from this article that it was delivered to California sometime in early January 1929. However, if you follow the airplane's link above, you'll find that NC1102 landed at Tucson twice, on September 15 and November 6, 1928, well before Fritz and Wiles traveled to Detroit to "bring to Los Angeles the first new model Ford super-service monoplanes." I have no explanation for the discrepancy, if you do, please let me KNOW.

J.W. Wiles was born September 15,1897 in Wayne, MI. The 1900 U.S. Census, his first, placed him (age 3) living in Canton Township, MI with his parents, George (34) and Frances (30) and an older sister and brother. His paternal grandmother Ann (67) and a boarder, George Robinderes (17) lived with them. His father's occupation was coded as "Farmer," and Robinderes was a "Farm Laborer." The 1910 Census placed the family together in the same place. Ann and George were no longer living with them.

At age 20 in 1918, Wiles registered for the draft as documented on his draft registration card, below. His occupation was cited as an inspector for the Harrow Motors Corporation. He was married at the time to Blanche J. He was described as medium height and build, with blue eyes and black hair.

John W. Wiles Draft Registration Card, September 12, 1917 (Source: ancestry.com)

In the 1920 Census, John was age 22 and married, living in Wayne, MI. His wife, Blanche Estes (23), lived with him and they had a daughter, Ellen F. (8-months; 1919-2002) living with them. His occupation was coded as "Plumber." They had married January 24,1918.

Blanche Wiles, Grave Marker, 1928 (Source: findagrave.com)

Blanche passed away of tuberculosis about eight years after Ellen's birth. Her grave marker is at right. Ellen, however, showed up in the 1930 Census living in Ypsilanti, MI with her aunt and uncle. Another younger child, identified as "Desus" (her name was Venus) lived with them.

According to ancestry.com, below, Wiles married Dorothy A. Jons on May 2, 1929. The 1930 city directory for Los Angeles listed him living with Dorothy at 2533 Buckingham Road, Los Angeles. Their marriage license, dated April 29th, is below. According to a family member, John Wiles met his second wife Dorothy in California when he moved there to work so he could make enough money to bring his daughters to California to live with him. He would have been working for Maddux Airlines.

Dorothy Jons/J.W. Wiles Marriage License, April 29, 1929 (Source: ancestry.com)

The 1930 Census, coded April 2nd, corroborated their address. However, it was not their own home. They lived with his mother- and father-in-law Henry A. Jons and Dorothy's sister. His occupation was coded as "Mechanical Engineer," although he had only three years of high school education. Neither Ellen nor Venus were living with them, having been identified on another Census form living with their uncle.

The 1940 Census placed Wiles living, at age 42, at 1822 Preuss Road, Los Angeles, today a neat residential neighborhood. Dorothy (36) was with him, as was daughter Venus, age 16. Ellen was not with them. Being 21 years old by this time, she had probably left the nest. Wiles' occupation was again coded as "Mechanical Engineer" in "Aviation.' For what it's worth, from 1930 to the time of his passing, California voter registrations at ancestry.com show he was registered as a Republican.

J.W. Wiles appeared third from left in the photograph below snapped in front of an unidentified Ford trimotor. The date (early 1930s?) and location of the image are unknown. Jack Maddux and his wife, Helene, appear third and fourth from right, respectively. The other people were unidentified.

J.W. Wiles, et al. See Text (Source: Wiles Family)

Wiles flew West February 1, 1960 in Los Angeles, CA at age 62.

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 01/15/18 REVISED: 01/22/18